Expensive sneaker collection may be cause of East Bridgewater armed home invasion

An expensive sneaker collection may have been the reason a group of men broke into an East Bridgewater home, tying up the residents and pistol-whipping one man early Tuesday morning. Shawn Raymond, a victim of the armed home invasion, said he has a collection of about 100 pairs of sneakers, like Nike Jordans, which he has been collecting since he was 14 years old.

EAST BRIDGEWATER – An expensive sneaker collection may have been the reason a group of men broke into an East Bridgewater home, tying up the residents and pistol-whipping one man early Tuesday morning.

Shawn Raymond, a victim of the armed home invasion, said he has a collection of about 100 pairs of sneakers, like Nike Jordans, which he has been collecting since he was 14 years old.

He said he sells the sneakers online.

“I woke up at 2:30 in the morning with four dudes in my house with guns taking my sneakers off my wall,” Raymond, 20, said.

The men used a crowbar to pry open a back window of the house on North Central Street, where he lives with his grandparents and younger sister, Raymond said.

“They took a bunch and put them in a trash bag,” he said. “They tied me up and took their time. They tied up my 13-year-old sister over this and my grandmother and grandfather.”

Four men with masks were all carrying handguns and pistol-whipped Raymond and hit him with a crowbar. His other family members were not harmed, but were scared from the attack, he said.

“My grandparents are mortified by it,” Raymond said.

The robbers also took several pairs of jeans, a gold chain and electronics from the house, Raymond said.

Police responded to the scene with a massive presence of SWAT officers, K-9s and cruisers from at least eight other communities as far away as Dartmouth and Fall River.

Law enforcement officers were scattered throughout the small, rural town of about 14,000 people. They spent several hours searching through acres of wooded land near where the robbery took place.

As of Tuesday afternoon police said they had five people in custody, four men and one woman.

In one of the suspect’s cars, police said they found a bag full of sneakers. They found another bag of sneakers in the woods where near where the robbery occurred.

Each pair of sneakers is worth about $200-$300, Raymond said.

Raymond was arrested last November when police raided the same home on North Central Street.

Police said they found 3 pounds of marijuana in the house and that Raymond was “conducting large scale sales” to residents in and around the area.

When reached by phone Tuesday, Raymond said the robbery is related to his shoe collection and not drugs.

‘‘It’s not drug related at all,” he said. “After I got in trouble I tried getting my life together. I’ve been a good worker in a machine shop.”

“I go to the gym and work, and that’s it,” he said. “Mentally it messes me up. I’ve been a good kid recently. There’s no reason why people should be after me. I’m not a punk.”